“Even in the worst case scenario, the NBA season will end before the opening ceremony of the OlympicsThis is what was hammered Wednesday the Secretary General of FIBA (International Basketball Federation) Andreas Zagklis during a press videoconference. The NBA and the players’ association (NBPA) have indeed reached an agreement mid- November to avoid a superimposition of the calendar of the North American championship, shifted due to the pandemic, with the Olympic basketball tournament.
The regular season is reduced to 72 games, compared to the usual 82, to allow the NBA Finals to end by July 22 at the latest, the day before the opening ceremony of the Games and just four days before the start of the. men’s Olympic tournament, July 26. “If the NBA final goes until Game 7, there will only be a few days before the tournament., admitted Andreas Zagklis. But 85% of NBA players will be available from Olympic qualifying tournaments (June 29 to July 4). And even in the worst case scenario (that of a match) everything will be finished before the opening ceremony.”
If the two competitions do not collide head-on, the delay is extremely short between them and raises the question of the presence of certain players. Especially since the latter will have already experienced the shortest truce in the NBA with only 71 days between the end of the 2019-2020 season and the 2020-2021 fiscal year, which begins on December 23. Concerns swept aside by Andreas Zagklis on Wednesday. “The reactions that go back from all the players, including those playing in the NBA, are that the Olympics are one of the most memorable moments of their careers.“, concluded the Secretary General of FIBA.
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